


Not Picture Perfect (But Damn Close Enough)

by makesmefree



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Boys In Love, Domestic Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Dorks, Fluff, Ian Gallagher Loves Mickey Milkovich, Ian Gallagher and Mandy Milkovich are Best Friends, Instagram, M/M, Mickey Milkovich Loves Ian Gallagher, Mickey and Ian being corny, Social Media, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, at their finest, cheesy captions, cheesy instagram posts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 03:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13673343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesmefree/pseuds/makesmefree
Summary: Mandy Milkovich knew her brother wasn’t a sap. At the same time, she knew her best friend had fallen for the south side thug and all of his hard-ass mannerisms. But whenever she took the time to look at the couple's instagram profiles, the posts told a slightly different, mushier story.(In which Mandy stalks Mickey and Ian on instagram)





	Not Picture Perfect (But Damn Close Enough)

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone!! just some housekeeping things before I dive into the details of this cute little tale- so as some of you might know I was recently developing a Mexico fix-it fic, which I recently deleted because I wasn't at all happy with the way it was progressing. As a writer, I sometimes have plans in my mind of the way a story should go, and that story was frustrating me because it wasn't following that vision. I have deleted it for now, but there is a chance it will be republished in the future once I can refine it and tweak it to fit how I think it was always meant to be. ANYWAY, in the meantime, I have gotten back to the tooth-rooting fluff I love so much. I will admit this is inspired slightly by my friend Jaime's "Thanks For The Memories", a fic that I just adore. Mainly, I love the idea of our boys being all cheesy on social media, and that's exactly what this story is with instagram. And my number one girl Mandy.

Mandy Milkovich knew her brother wasn’t a sap. At the same time, she knew her best friend had fallen for the south side thug with all of his hard-ass mannerisms. But whenever she took the time to stalk the couple on Instagram, the posts told a slightly different, mushier story.

It was true that Mickey wasn’t mushy by nature, and it was equally true that Ian loved Mickey for everything he was, including said lack of mush. Yet, being so in love with each other tended to bring out traces of hopeless romanticism in both of them, even if this was accidental on Mickey’s part. Mandy could see this clearly on both boys’ Instagram profiles.

Mandy scrolled through Ian’s feed, starting with his most recent post. The photo was of him and Mickey curled up on their apartment’s couch. Mickey was settled between Ian’s impossibly long legs, nuzzling into his chest as Ian wrapped his arms around him. The caption just read _‘happy happy happy_ ’. Mandy chuckled to herself, thinking about how corny her best friend was.

Mandy scrolled down more, passing a picture of Ian and Lip, a picture of a sunset clearly taken from the sidewalk outside the Gallagher house, and then landed on another picture that featured her brother. It appeared to be taken in the same setting as the previous sunset post had been. The sunlight was at a similar stage as it had been in that previous post— the skies were pink and the surrounding light was a glowing orange. In the foreground of the photo was Mickey with a small, content grin on his face. The caption of this post said ‘ _He thought the sunset was pretty. I thought he was prettier_ ’. Mandy snorted at that, and wondered how her brother had reacted. She opened the comment section and found Mickey’s response that simply read _‘you’re gay’_ , with an added heart emoji for good measure.

Mandy kept scrolling. She passed a picture wishing Carl a happy birthday and directly after found another picture with Mickey in it. She clicked on it, continuing to be so engrossed in the relationship and the effect Ian Gallagher, her best friend, has always had on her older brother.

In this picture, Ian was holding Yevgeny and placing a kiss on the top of the baby’s head. At the same time, his arm was wrapped around Mickey, who was looking at his boyfriend and son with an unbelievably blissed-out gaze. The caption Ian wrote said _‘my boys’_. Mandy didn’t realize how widely the photo was making her smile until her cheeks began to ache a little bit.

Ian and Mickey had recently worked out an agreement with Svetlana that granted them partial custody of Yevgeny, meaning Mickey and Ian got to play an integral role in raising the boy. Additionally, Mickey, Ian, and Svetlana were getting along better than ever. While they were all aware that it would never be a perfectly functional family unit, and the furthest thing from conventional, they had come to an agreement that the most important thing for Yevgeny was to be surrounded by people that love him.

The photo directly after that one was of Mandy herself. She was holding Yevgeny and looking down at him with a soft smile, unaware that Ian had even been taking the picture. The caption read _‘He loves visiting his aunt Mandy!!’_ And Mandy felt her heart flutter at that, as if she were seeing the post for the first time (when in reality she had both seen the photo before and lived the moment).

Mandy fucking loved that baby. It was true that Yevgeny had the furthest thing from a traditional, nuclear family set-up, but that kid was so loved. There was more love around Yevgeny, Mandy thought, then many kids in the “ideally” assembled family could ever dream of being graced with. When she clicked on the picture’s comments and saw a majority of them were people proclaiming Yevgeny’s cuteness, this thought was only further confirmed. Debbie had commented _‘So cute. So wholesome. So pure’_. Carl wrote _‘his Uncle Carl has a couple things to teach him when he gets bigger’_. Lip had replied to Carl, simply stating _‘stop_ ’. Fiona had also commented, saying _‘This is the greatest, Ian.’_

And as corny as Ian’s Instagram was, it really was “the greatest” sometimes. It made Mandy happy to be reminded of how happy her brother and best friend were, which is what they deserved after how far they’d come to be together the way they are now. Thinking of how far they’d come, Mandy scrolled down to Ian’s earlier posts.

She found one from years back, when both boys were younger. It wasn’t the first picture of Ian and Mickey on Ian’s Instagram— Ian had posted others that depicted the two as just friends during a time when Mickey wouldn’t dare let the world see them as anything else— but it was the first one that showed any traces of a romantic relationship. It didn’t appear to at the surface, since it was just a shot of Mickey flipping off the camera. But reading the caption told a different story.

 _‘He’s really beautiful’_ it said.

Mickey had commented, writing _‘delete this or I’ll cut your dick off._ ’ Ian had replied with a _‘sounds kinky’_ and a winking face emoji. Mandy rolled her eyes at Ian’s kinky comment, but smiled despite herself when she remembered who her brother was now. Mickey, the good dad, good boyfriend, good brother and good friend. Mickey, the person who knew himself and liked himself. Mickey, the person who let himself be loved. Who let himself have Ian. Mandy may think the two were corny as all hell, but that didn’t change how happy she was for them and how proud she was of Mickey. She’d probably never say anything along those lines outwardly, but she would also never need to. Mickey and Ian knew how she felt, and felt even stronger in the same manner themselves.

Continuing to think about how proud she was of Mickey, and how proud everyone should be of Mickey, Mandy clicked over to his Instagram profile. She began looking at it from the bottom, where it was primarily pictures of guns— few and far between because Mickey formerly viewed social media as a colossal waste of time. The further Mandy scrolled up though, posting got more frequent. At first it was simply a transition to Mickey posting more pictures in general. Still mostly of guns and other random things with himself never in the picture, but the posts were still more frequent after he met Ian. There was a large gap of time when he had been in juvie, and an even larger gap of time when Mickey’s time had largely been consumed with taking care of Ian around the time of his diagnosis.

And then, all at once, Mickey started posting pictures of himself. Of himself and Ian, of himself and Yevgeny… Of himself smiling. It began with the slightest of smiles that could be confused with just a slight curl of the lips. In the more recent posts, though, Mickey was smiling bigger, showing teeth, even. Looking at this smile, Mandy felt a smile of her own creeping up. She clicked on Mickey’s most recent post.

Mandy quickly recognized the picture when she realized she had been the one to take it. She’d taken it one morning when Ian and Mickey invited her over for breakfast at their apartment. The two of them had been sitting across from her at the small, round kitchen table. One of Mickey’s arms was wrapped around Ian’s and the other was clutching a coffee mug. Ian, for his part, was just looking down at Mickey with a huge grin on his face. Mickey’s eyebrows were raised at the camera, and while he was attempting to look rather serious he couldn’t suppress the glint in his eyes that was shining as a result of being around Ian. _‘This man is mine’_ the caption stated. Mandy opened the comments. She read her own, which just said _‘he was my boyfriend first!’_ and Ian’s which said _‘and only your's. Love you baby’_. Carl had just wrote _‘Don’t bother requesting to follow Ian, boys. Mickey will shank you’_ and Lip had wrote _‘getting a little possessive, aren’t we, Mikhailo?’_ Mickey had replied to Mandy and Lip the same way, giving them each their own _‘fuck off_ ’. To Carl he just wrote _‘you’re not wrong’_ and to Ian was _‘I love you too’._

The picture right after that also featured Ian. It was taken on the front facing camera of the couple laying in bed. Mickey was resting his head on Ian’s bare chest, smiling dreamily. Mandy looked closer and realized Mickey’s eyes were closed and that he was likely sleeping at the time the picture was taken. The caption confirmed Mandy’s suspicions as it said ‘ _My boyfriend is the strongest and handsomest man ever. Also this is Mickey, and definitely not Ian hacking his phone while he’s sleeping’_. Mandy couldn’t believe she’d missed that detail of the post originally, and opened the comments to see how Mickey reacted. He’d just commented _‘I wonder who told the strongest, sexiest, and handsomest man in the world my passcode?’_ To which Ian replied _‘Your passcode is literally our anniversary date. And I never said sexiest.’_ and Mickey wrote back _‘Sexiest man is another important title you hold that you forgot to add. You’re welcome, you fucking idiot’._ Mandy found herself laughing at this, the laughter as much from relief as it was from amusement. She was relived that Mickey felt as though he could finally be himself— referring to Ian however he damn well pleased (sexy, in this case, Mandy supposed) in front of all of his followers.

Before Mickey knew Ian, he carried himself with an “I don’t care and fuck you” attitude. He had no regard for his surroundings and feelings. The closest to an emotional release he ever got was pistol whipping and bitch slapping.

But then there was Ian. And Ian made Mickey not care in a different, beautiful way. Ian allowed Mickey to develop an “I don’t care and I love you attitude”. In carrying himself in this way, Mickey was able to accept his feelings and surroundings, letting himself be happy. Mickey used to not care whether or not he went to jail or died, but being with Ian made him care most about living and loving, while simultaneously not caring what anyone on the outside of the relationship may think.

Mickey finally loved deeply, and cared about that love more than anything. This made Mandy happy in a way she couldn’t put into words. She clicked on one last picture.

In the photo, Ian was walking down a sidewalk that led from his and Mickey’s house to the Gallagher house with Mickey on his back. Mickey’s legs and arms were curled and wrapped around Ian like vines, and his head was resting on his shoulder. Ian’s face was traced with a leftover paleness that Mandy knew well enough to know he was in the process of recovering from a depressive episode. Despite this, Ian was smiling the sincerest of smiles. Mandy read the caption, which said _‘Hey Gallagher, I’m always gonna be here to lift you up. Thanks for lifting me up too'_. Many of the comments from friends telling Ian they were glad he was feeling better— which confirmed Mandy’s suspicions that he had, in fact, experienced some sort of depressive episode prior to the photograph being posted. But what Mandy couldn’t stop finding hope-giving was the smile on Ian’s face.

Ian was smiling because his bipolar didn’t take away the fact that Mickey made him the pure, unadulterated kind of happy that only a few are lucky enough to truly experience. He was smiling more easily and quicker than he’d ever been able to without Mickey around because, while no one could cure Ian’s disease, someone could care for him during the turbulent times. And no one did that better than Mickey fuckin' Milkovich. There would always be days when Ian barricaded himself behind locked doors, but just as certainly as those days came, Mickey would always be on the other side of the door. Listening, waiting, and ready to offer anything Ian could want or need in the darkness. And for that reason, Ian always regarded Mickey as his light.

Like Mickey, Ian had past troubles with the way he felt things. The two boys’ wars against their emotions were waged on two totally different fronts, but the enemy was common. The enemy was preventing them from loving.

But the thing about Ian and Mickey was (and the thing Mandy could tell clearly from the way the boys both appeared on Instagram and acted in person) that they were amazingly resilient. Though both boys had fought debilitating battles, they’d emerged stronger and victorious— champions of a new freedom to love.

No one’s relationship is as beautiful an illusion as Instagram gives. Mandy knew this. Still, she couldn’t help but view Mickey and Ian as damn close enough to picture perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Also check out my friend's fics if you for some reason haven't already. Here archive username is @/gallavichlyjaime. She's talented and inspires/moves me all the time.   
> Let me know what you think by leaving comments/kudos. Prompts always welcome in the comment sections of any of my stories xoxo.


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